I’ve focused on bear markets for the last two weeks because the stock market briefly dipped into bear market territory a few weeks ago. Since then, markets have recovered some of what was lost, although there is still a way to go to get back to even. One of my colleagues pointed out that as long as your portfolio could reliably provide the cash flow that you need to live… Read More
People frequently ask me if they should use contribute to their ‘regular’ IRA or their Roth IRA. I’m usually wishy-washy in my answer because it depends on a variety of factors, including things that are simply unknowable. Before getting into whether you should or shouldn’t consider the Roth option, let’s review the basics. A ‘regular’ 401k (as people often refer to it when talking to me), is the traditional savings… Read More
Many years ago, I somehow discovered a newsletter called International Living that showed how you could retire overseas and live well without a ton of money. The basic idea was that your Social Security check would go a lot further in Prague than in Philadelphia. The magazine (and now website www.internationalliving.com) always featured beautiful photographs of unspoiled beaches in Costa Rica, wandering streets of old Italian villages and had the feeling of a travel brochure… Read More
The big news on Friday was an agreement between The White House and Congressional leaders to reopen the government until mid-February to allow border negotiations to continue. Whatever you feel about President Trump, Speaker Pelosi, the shut-down, ‘The Wall,’ or any other hot-button that’s sure to upset someone, there is a salient, non-partisan lesson that’s worth noting: the importance of either maintaining an emergency fund or sufficient liquidity. Although financial… Read More
One of my favorite writers and thinkers is a behavioral economist named Dan Ariely. I heard him speak at a conference years ago, read his first book Predictably Irrational and am about half way through his most recent book, Dollars and Sense. It may be a little hard to tell from the photo, but if you look closely, you can see that his face is disfigured from a third-degree burn… Read More
I suspect that, at some point, everyone has heard the old rule of thumb that retirees need to replace 80 percent of their income in retirement to continue to maintain their lifestyle. Although I think that the rule is conceptually reasonable, it’s imperfect and can be improved upon. At the very least, spending in retirement isn’t fixed – it tends to decline over time as people age (for more on… Read More
This is the third part in a series on the successful transition to retirement. The first article addressed The Challenge of Leisure and was followed by Why Put Family First. This one will expand from family to your broader social network. As a reminder, researchers have shown that strong social relationships keep us younger, healthier, and lower our mortality risk. In addition to living longer, healthy people lead happier lives in… Read More
This is the second part in a series on the successful transition to retirement. The first article addressed The Challenge of Leisure and this one will dive a little deeper into the family dynamic, which typically effects everyone in the house, not just the person retiring. My parents had close friends (whom I will call George and Martha). My dad and George served in the Navy together. George went on to… Read More
The transition to retirement is a major milestone and Acropolis helps our clients make a successful transition. Retiring is often equated with having more leisure time. However, clients should have a strategy for healthy aging. Leisure is an important part of life which provides many benefits. A few of these are: time to recharge our batteries, give us something to look forward to, and provides a change of pace in… Read More
